The following was submitted by the candidate
Hello fellow Milton residents, my name is Kevin Donahue and I am running for a position on the School Committee. I am a graduate of Milton High School, and this fall will mark the beginning of my second trip through the Milton Public School system; this time as a parent, with all the associated hopes and dreams.
The education I received in the Milton Public Schools was exceptional. It enabled me to excel academically and to gain acceptance to the college of my choice, Dartmouth College. At the university level, I found myself well-prepared to succeed in an atmosphere of rigorous academics and high expectations.
I met my wife, Erin, while studying at Dartmouth. After graduating, we moved on to Boston University, where I earned a medical degree and she obtained her Masters in Education. I completed my postgraduate medical training at Boston Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital before joining a physician practice based at Anna Jaques Hospital. My wife and I settled back in Milton in 2005, and we now have three daughters who will be making their way through the Milton public schools–Katherine (5), Elizabeth (2.5) and Jane (4 mos).
I want my children, and all of the children of Milton, to have the many opportunities in life that a top-notch educational foundation affords them. I am grateful to live in Milton and I enjoy taking an active role in shaping the future of our town. I have served as a Town Meeting member since 2007 and as a member of the Board of Registrars since 2012. With two seats open on the School Committee this election cycle, I find that I cannot resist the opportunity to become more directly involved in our schools.
While Milton’s schools are excellent, providing an extremely high quality education for all students is not a simple matter, but rather a complicated balancing act. We must balance the cost of maintaining a top-quality staff of teachers and of supporting the implementation of research-based methods and programs for improving the learning experience of all of our children with the budgetary concerns that come with the town’s current tax base and financial status. Further, at the elementary level, we must remain dedicated to maintaining and enhancing not one but two excellent programs, French Immersion and STEM.
Three of my foremost goals for the Milton public schools center around STEM, closing achievement gaps, and intermediate to long-term financial planning. Specifically, I envision a cohesive STEM program that extends from elementary school through the high school level, with the ultimate goal of partnering with colleges and universities in the state to provide advanced standing to the graduates of this program. Focused support is critical to closing achievement gaps and the Advancement Budget is an excellent example of this form of targeted resource placement. While this specific budget program is finite in length, the concept of assessment and subsequent tailored support should continue to be an ongoing process to ensure not only that achievement gaps are closed but that students can excel to their greatest potential. Realistic intermediate and long range budgeting, specifically a comprehensive projected 5 and 10 year budget plan, is necessary not only for this form of planned resource placement but also for support of the overall budgetary needs of the system.
As a graduate of the Milton Public Schools, I feel a strong sense of devotion to the system that helped me ultimately reach my educational and career goals, and I feel it is my duty and honor to contribute to the continued growth and development of the schools that will shape my own children’s lives. It is because of this devotion and belief that I commute 100 miles a day rather than move to a community closer to my job. I am a dedicated, hardworking consensus-builder who appreciates the intricacies of team problem solving and the needs and demands of a modern first-rate public school system. Over the next several weeks, I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible and convincing you to support my candidacy.
This past Saturday, after coming home from a round of golf, my wife told me that a young man had knocked on our door. He was running for school committee and was doing the hard work of door to door campaigning. She was very impressed with this young man. When she showed me his campaign literature and told me his name, I was not surprised.
One of life’s joy is to watch an individual develop from a child to adulthood. To see the individual growth from high school through college and graduate school and then have a family of their own. It’s amazing when it’s your child. It’s even more amazing, when it’s someone else’s child.
It’s hard to believe I’ve known Kevin Donahue for close to twenty years. He was a student at Milton High School when we were both members of the PTSFO. At that young age, Kevin impressed us with his maturity. He was smart and you knew he was going places. We were not surprised when it turned out to be Dartmouth.
Our paths crossed again when he entered Boston University Medical School and spent time at Boston Medical Center. He demonstrated those qualities that we first saw at Milton High School. Kevin “got it.” He wanted to do more than climb up and out. He wanted to give back. And he has. As a physician, caring for his patients. As a Dad, raising his children with his wife Erin.
We would see each other at Town Meeting, working to make Milton a little better then when we found it, to ensure that we left it in better shape for those who followed us here. He’s following the traditon of public service and volunteerism that he saw his father do fo rmany years.
Kevin will take that positive attitude and hardwork to the MIlton School Committee and continue to ensure that the high standards of the edication he received will be there for generations to come. He is a good man who will work with others to make the Milton Schools better.
I believe that Kevin Donahue is the kind of person we need on the Milton School Committe and hope that you will join me in casting one of your two votes next Tuesday for Kevin.